Maryland, the Free State Quiz | Maryland

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The Mason-Dixon line, which serves as the northern boundary of Maryland, is commonly thought of as the dividing line between the northern and southern states during the American Civil War. However, the line was delineated nearly a hundred years earlier to settle a property dispute. Who were the two families who took this matter to the British court to be resolved?

Answer: Calvert and Penn

King Charles I of England gave the colony of Maryland to George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, in 1632. Fifty years later, in 1682, Charles II granted William Penn land to the north, which later became the state of Pennsylvania. Another grant a year later, gave Penn the Delmarva Peninsula, the area that includes the "Eastern Shore" of present-day Maryland and all of the state of Delaware. However, the boundaries in the grants to Calvert and Penn were not identical, wherein lay the problem. Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon arrived in Philadelphia in November 1763 and spent the next four years surveying the 233 mile long line that bears their names.

This information comes from:
http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa041999.htm

2. Nearly 41 miles of this footpath runs through Maryland along the north-south backbone of South Mountain from Pennsylvania to the Potomac River. It briefly joins the C&O Canal for a few miles before crossing the river into West Virginia at Harpers Ferry. What is the name of this famous trail?

Answer: The Appalachian Trail

"The Appalachian National Scenic Trail wanders the ridges and valleys of the Appalachian mountain range through 14 states from Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia for a distance of more than 2,174 miles." http://www.appalachiantrail.org

A Maryland highlight for thru-hikers, those hardy folk who hike the entire trail on an odyssey that can take four to six months, is the Dahlgren Backpacker Campground near the trail's intersection with Alternate Route 40, the only place along the entire trail with free hot showers!

3. Commissioned in 1855, this sloop was the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy, and is presently docked at Pier 1 in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. What is her name?

Answer: USS Constellation

Purchased and moved to Baltimore in 1954 by a non-profit organization for restoration and preservation, the USS Constellation is the only American Civil War-era vessel still afloat. A pearl of maritime, naval, and American history, she is open to the public and a must-see on your trip to Maryland's largest city. Within easy walking distance is the National Aquarium, the Maryland Science Center and Davis Planetarium, and all the food and shopping you can handle.

For hours of operation and more information, visit:
http://www.constellation.org

4. After being detained by the British and witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry from one of their ships, 35 year old Maryland attorney Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry" which later became the United States national anthem "The Star Spangled Banner." What war was going on at the time?

Answer: The War of 1812

Francis Scott Key was born in 1779 in Keymar, Maryland, which is in present-day Carroll County. He was a lawyer in Georgetown, and lived there for about 30 years with his wife Mary and their six sons and five daughters. Now a neighborhood within the District, at the time, Georgetown was a separate community just a few miles from the White House and Capitol Building in Washington. Key later served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

For more information on Key and the battle that inspired his poem, visit:
http://www.usflag.org/francis.scott.key.html

5. On the third Saturday in May, Maryland is host to the Preakness Stakes, the second race in the coveted Triple Crown. At what track is this exciting event held?

Answer: Pimlico Race Course

Pimlico Race Course, a one-mile loam oval located in northwest Baltimore, opened in 1870. The first Preakness Stakes was run three years later, in 1873, and takes its name from the horse that won Pimlico's opening day's feature race. The race for the middle jewel in the Triple Crown draws over 100,000 spectators.

More details can be found here:
http://www.pimlico.com/

6. Maryland native James Ryder Randall was teaching in Louisiana when he received news that a friend had been wounded in Baltimore less than two weeks after the start of the Civil War. Believing that Maryland was about to join the Confederate cause, he composed a nine-stanza poem expressing his southern sympathies which, when set to the tune of "O, Tannenbaum" quickly became popular in Maryland and throughout the South. What is the name of this poem, adopted as Maryland's State Song in 1939?

Answer: Maryland, My Maryland

James Ryder Randall was born in Baltimore in 1839. He attended Georgetown University, and although he did not graduate, he became the chair of the English Department at Poydras College in Pointe-Coup�e, Louisiana. His best-known work, "Maryland, My Maryland" was first published in the New Orleans Sunday Delta on April 26, 1861. Randall served with various newspapers after the war, his last assignment as an editor and correspondent for the Augusta Chronicle in Augusta, Georgia, where he died on January 15, 1908.

This link will take you to Randall's stirring words:
http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/symbols/song.html

7. Explored by Captain John Smith in 1612, this peninsula is formed by the confluence of the Potomac River into the Chesapeake Bay, and was aptly named for the role it played in the American Revolution and later in the War of 1812. The Federal government erected a lighthouse on the point in 1830, but during the Civil War nearly 4,000 Confederate soldiers died of exposure, disease and starvation while incarcerated here. What is the name of the Maryland State park presently at this location?

Answer: Point Lookout

George Calvert's younger son, Leonard, Maryland's first governor, built a manor at Point Lookout in 1634. This was the subject of British raids during the American Revolution, and again in the War of 1812, as it was a natural Colonial lookout point for any movement by the British Fleet on the lower Chesapeake Bay. Although no longer active, the lighthouse is still in existence and owned by the U.S. Navy, and is widely believed to be haunted by ghosts.

For more information about the Point Lookout Civil War Museum and State Park visit:
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/southern/pointlookout.html

An interesting webpage for the lighthouse can be found at:
http://www.ptlookoutlighthouse.com/

8. Maryland's Atlantic shore happens to be home to "The East Coast's Number One Family Resort." Accommodations to meet any taste or budget, dining, shopping, nightlife, amusement parks, golf, and all the imaginable water activities ten miles of oceanfront beach can offer await the vacationer. What is the name of Maryland's premier summer resort town?

Answer: Ocean City

June graduates traditionally flock to the beach to celebrate, and Ocean City has so many tourists during the summer months that it becomes the second largest city in the state of Maryland. Any trip to OC should include a stroll along its famous boardwalk and a ride on the 140-foot Ferris Wheel.

Learn more about Ocean City at:
http://www.ocean-city.com

9. If the crowds are not your idea of a vacation, about eight miles south of Maryland's largest summer resort town, you will find an undeveloped 37-mile stretch of beach and grassy marshland that extends into Virginia. Little brown and white ponies are the inhabitants here, made world famous by Marguerite Henry's 1947 story of Misty. What is the name of Maryland's portion of this barrier island?

Answer: Assateague Island

In the summertime, the main roadways of Assateague Island National Seashore can get pretty crowded with people coming to see the legendary wild ponies, but there are less-traveled paths in both this National Park and the Assateague State Park from which to fully experience this harsh, ever-changing island. Be prepared, however, to combat clouds of mosquitoes, which may be the reason people have left this mystical place to the ponies.

This question was heavily inspired by:
http://www.wordtravels.com/Attractions/Provinces/Maryland

Visit Assateague State Park: http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/eastern/assateague.html

Visit Assateague Island National Seashore:
http://www.nps.gov/asis

10. Testudo is the official mascot of the University of Maryland and has been affiliated with their athletic program since 1933. It isn't clear how he got his name, but why his species was chosen does make sense when you learn he is native to the Chesapeake Bay, and is also Maryland's State Reptile. What, exactly, is Testudo?

Answer: Diamondback Terrapin

Having grown up in Crisfield, Maryland, Dr. H.C. Byrd, a football coach who later became University President, recommended the Diamondback as mascot in 1932. The Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) was designated State Reptile and official mascot of the University of Maryland, College Park in 1994.

"Chesapeake Diamondbacks are distinguished by diamond-shaped, concentric rings on the scutes of their upper shells. Their preference for unpolluted saltwater make them indicators of a healthy marsh and river system."
http://www.shgresources.com/md/symbols/

Source: Author McGruff

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor LilahDeDah before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Maryland, the Free State Trivia Quiz

This quiz touches on things all Marylanders should probably know, and hopefully will allow visitors to learn a little something about the place I call home.

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